Today we’re excited to announce availability of tools to build Paid Skills in the US as a new way for developers to monetize digital products and content for Alexa customers. We know not every skill experience lends itself well to subscriptions, entitlements, or in-skill consumable content. With Paid skills, customers pay a one-time fee, up front, to access the content in your skill. This is ideal for premium skills where a customer is more likely to pay once, to access the core skill experience.
Developer revenue from in-skill purchasing has more than doubled year over year — in-skill purchasing allows customers to pay for premium content within a free skill experience — and Paid Skills offer you even more opportunities to monetize your skills. By asking customers to pay during enablement of the skill, Paid Skills help developers generate a steady stream of revenue for content rich or exclusive experiences for Alexa. Developers will be able to create and manage Paid Skills for Alexa devices.
Starting September, customers will be able to purchase your skill through the Alexa Skill Store or by asking Alexa to buy the skill through voice or touch on Alexa enabled Devices. Customers pay for skills by using the payment options associated with their Amazon account. You can choose to offer your skills as a One Time Purchase or a Subscription with the ability to configure the frequency of billing (subscription only). You can also offer a free trial so that customers can preview the skill content for a limited time before purchasing.
Your earnings from Paid Skills along with key metrics can be tracked in the Developer Console, helping you track the performance of your paid skills.
Developers can start building and testing Paid Skills in our sandbox, starting today. Certification of your submitted Paid Skills will be available by September. We can’t wait to see the different ways developers use our monetization tools. Find us on the Alexa Community Slack to ask questions, provide feedback and engage with other developers and stay tuned for more updates.
To get started, see Steps to Implement Paid Skills.
- Developer docs
- Past launches
- https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/5d852c9c-8cdf-45c1-9b68-e2f02af26c89/make-money-with-alexa-skills
- A getting started guide for In-skill purchasing – https://developer.amazon.com/en-US/docs/alexa/in-skill-purchase/isp-overview.html
- Tutorial on adding In Skill Purchasing - https://www.twitch.tv/amazonalexa/video/264614234